<27> Managing Oneself
1/30/25
약점에선 성과를 낼 수 없으니 강점에 포커스하고 살아가라. 그리고 아이디어는 산을 움직이지 않는다, 단지 불도저가 어디서 작업을 해야 하나를 보여줄 뿐이다.
I started reading it after reading somewhere that this was the best piece by Peter Drucker; Drucker was a management consultant guru from the 20th century (OK, that sounded like a long time ago 😊). This also changed my life though unlike the two previous pieces I wrote about (Here and Here) which had impact on how I DO things, this piece had impact on how I THINK about things. In particular, I think this is a must-read for anyone desiring to kick-ass in career. I often discuss Drucker’s seven personality trait questions when anyone seeks my advice (on career). My three takeaways & book notes in below:
Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker
Only From Strength: Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong. More often, people know what they are not good at – and even then, more people are wrong than right. And yet, a person can perform only from strength. One cannot build performance on weaknesses, let alone on something one cannot do at all.
Go Back to the Previous Point: First and foremost, concentrate on your strengths. Put yourself where your strengths can produce results. Second, work on improving your strengths. Analysis will rapidly show where you need to improve skills or acquire new ones. It will also show the gaps in your knowledge – and those can usually be filled. Discover where your intellectual arrogance is causing disabling ignorance and overcome it.
And Work on Execution: For example, a planner may find that his beautiful plans fail because he does not follow through them. Like so many brilliant people, he believes that ideas move mountains. But bulldozers move mountains; ideas show where the bulldozers should go to work.
My summary of the piece in below, enjoy!
Managing Oneself: Great achievers have always managed themselves.
1. What are my strengths?
a. One cannot build performance on weaknesses.
b. Only way to find out is through feedback analysis (analyzing how you performed).
i. Write down what you think will happen and compare 9-12 months later.
ii. This will show you: a) What you are doing or not doing that deprives you of full benefits of strength; b) Where you are not particular competent; and c) Where you have no strengths & cannot perform.
c. Implications.
i. Concentrate on your strengths – put yourself where your strengths can produce results.
ii. Work on improving your strengths.
iii. Discover where intellectual arrogance is causing disabling ignorance and overcome it. Being bright is not substitute for knowledge.
iv. Remedy bad habits – like believing that ideas move mountains. No, bulldozers move mountains; ideas show where the bulldozers should go to work.
v. Comparing expectations with results indicates what not to do. Waste as little effort as possible on improving areas of low competence. Far more energy to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than from first-rate performance to excellence.
2. How do I perform?
a. It’s a matter of personality, formed long before a person goes to work. How a perform performs is a given, just as what a person is good at or not good at is a given.
b. Key dimensions of personality traits to check:
i. Reader or listener? Eisenhower as a commander (always had questions ahead) vs. as US President (impromptu Q&A with the press). JFK as a reader who had great writers as assistants who wrote to him before discussing memos.
ii. How do I learn? Writers do not learn by listening and reading, they learn by writing. Some learn by talking (talking at staff for 2-3 hours a week, simply needing an audience to hear himself talk).
iii. Do I work well with people or am I a loner?
iv. If working well with people, then in what relationship? Some work best as subordinates and some as leaders and some as just team members.
v. Do I produce results as a decision maker or as an adviser? A great many people perform best as advisers but cannot take the burden & pressure of making the decision. A good many other people, by contrast, need an adviser to force themselves to think; then they can make decisions and act on them with speed, self-confidence, and courage.
vi. Do I perform well under stress or do I need a highly structured & predictable environment?
vii. Do I work best in a big organization or a small one?
c. Conclusion bears repeating: Do not try to change yourself – you are unlikely to succeed. But work hard to improve the way you perform. And try not to take on work you cannot perform or will only perform poorly.
3. What are my values?
a. This is not a question of ethics (which is a mirror test meaning what kind of person do I want to see in the mirror in the morning). This is more about compatibility between one’s way of doing things and organization’s value system. These are questions such as short-term or long-term maximization, internal grooming or external hires. It’s the difference of “Unless you first come to church, you will never find the gate to the Kingdom of Heaven” vs. “Until you first look for the gate to the Kingdom of Heaven, you don’t belong in church”.
b. What do you value the most? The richest man in the cemetery? People? No right or wrong answer, just depends on the person.
4. Questions & Topics Thereafter
a. Where do I belong? Rather, decide where they do not belong (e.g., large organization? Decision-making-role?). Knowing answers to above three questions enable how new job should be structured, under what relationships, etc.
b. What should I contribute? In the late 60s, no one wanted to be told what to do any longer and no going back since, especially for knowledge workers. To answer this question properly, answer three questions:
i. What does the situation require?
ii. Given my strengths, my way of performing, and my values, how can I make the great contribution to what needs to be done
iii. What results have to be achieved to make a difference? Results should be:
1. Hard to achieve, requiring “stretching”.
2. Meaningful and make a difference.
3. Visible and measurable.
c. Responsibility for Relationships
i. Accept that other people are as much individuals as you yourself are.
ii. Bosses are also individuals and are entitled to do their work in the way they do it best. It is incumbent on the people who work with them to observe them, to find out how they work, and to adapt themselves to what makes their bosses most effective. This, in fact, is the secret of “managing” the boss.
iii. Same for coworkers. Each works his or her way, not your way. And each is entitled to work in his or her way. What matters is whether they perform and what their values are.
iv. Failure to ask reflects human stupidity less than it reflects human history.
d. Second Half of your Life
i. Three ways of developing a second career: a) Actually start one (similar functions or different lines of work); b) Develop a parallel career (e.g., non-profit); and c) Social entrepreneurs.
5. Conclusion
a. Tell people plainly: This is what I am good at. This is how I work. These are my values. This is the contribution I plan to concentrate on and the results I should be expected to deliver.
b. Knowledge workers should request this of everyone with whom they work, whether as subordinate, superior, colleague, or team member.
c. Organizations are no longer built on force but on trust. Trust means that they understand one another. Taking responsibility for relationships is therefore an absolute necessity. It is a duty.